Which Sports Are Popular In Japan?

Although you don't see them on TV winning medals very often, Japanese people play a lot of sport.

One sport which is quite unusual and unique to Japan is sumo wrestling. This is a traditional Japanese sport played by huge men wearing nothing but a thong. It's not a pretty sight sometimes as the sumo wrestlers are extremely obese. When they're not training, they spend most of their time eating to grow as large as possible.

They fight in a circular ring, and bouts can sometimes be over in seconds. They win by pushing and shoving their opponent out of the circle. Before they start fighting the sumo wrestlers stamp around trying to psyche out the other wrestler and throw salt into the ring for luck.

Other popular sports are football, baseball, golf, karate and judo. Some Japanese baseball players play in the United States. Children usually play football and baseball at school.